3/13/09

I mentioned that I'd share details about the incredibly cool times to be had with my darling friends from New Zealand and Australia recently [and by recently, I mean in January] but sometimes [and by sometimes, I really mean sometimes] punctuality leaves me in it's dust.

Not anymore, y'all.

Two months later, I'm ON this.

So it was a well-spent few weeks with precious friends, and we laughed, cried, ate, sprayed each other with various hair products, shopped, and prayed together in large doses. I can't even begin to cover all of the fun in a blog post, but I'm all over a synopsis. Just for you. Good times.

Our [my sister and I] first visitors were Valerie and Amber, and they arrived in Texas on a cold, blustery Saturday.

That's Ambs, me, and Valerie. Since the gals were in transit, on their way to conference, our first visit was a whopping 24 hours. Not that we didn't rock the mini-trip, 'cause we so did. We packed in countless wrong turns [my gps is disturbingly unfamiliar with THE CAPITOL OF TEXAS], Texas Roadhouse overindulgence [much love for the hot rolls and cinnamon butter], and several hours at a questionable Greyhound bus station where Val and Ambs waited patiently for a bus driver who very nearly forgot to stop and pick them up.

We managed to occupy the time by making multiple wardrobe changes in the car, bringing mad business to the vending machines in the lobby, and snapping pictures like fiends. Here, some girl is ruining a perfectly lovely snap of Amber and Leah with my her giant forehead.

Tsk, tsk.

There might also have been some stalking involved...

...But I assure you, no one was harmed or frightened in the making of these photos. ;o)

While we waited, we also decided it would be a great idea to video ourselves singing. Never mind that Val and I both had sore throats and scratchy voices and that we were performing outdoors at 1:00am in a strange city. In the freezing cold. It's the memories that count, right?

Right?

Since vimeo is being all doofus-like and refusing to embed, you can click here to hear us in all of our head-cold glory, as long as you promise not to judge us for our many unflattering layers and tired scruffiness.

So.. despite dodgy bus drivers, we made it to our destinations, hoping that the day and night we'd spent together wouldn't be the end of our trip, because, really, is 24 hours fair? I think not. That's why we were ecstatic to be able to join Valerie and Amber, along with our sister Akua, in Louisiana.

We spent a few days there before embarking on The Road Trip back to Texas. [Please note the titling of this road trip. The thang was may-jah.] We got up close and personal with some truly incredible people, got to see what was happening behind the scenes of the super-awesome church we visited, and enjoyed teatime with Sister Vani, a lovely lady powerfully anointed by God.

[That's all of us, crowded so closely around poor Sis. V, you'd think we wanted to steal her away and bring her home with us or something. Which may or may not have been the case... I'm just sayin'.]

So The Road Trip back to Texas commenced with all five of us crammed into my Honda Accord. She's always seemed amazingly roomy, until 5 girls + 5 girls' worth of luggage proved how woefully inadequate storage space actually is. Thankfully, the girls didn't hold it against her, and after some serious luggage manipulation, we were on our way.

[Here's Akua, Amber, and Leah in the backseat. The photo fails to capture the suitcases they were sitting on and the bags of Very Important Items looping around their ankles at will, but you can imagine the nightmare fun they had with all of that.]

We made it back to Texas minus a nail or two, but wiser, stronger women.

We were able to see a few of the sights in Texas before the girls had to leave - including the awesomeness that was a motorcyclin' dude in a furry viking hat - and bond over baking and shopping and being girly. And may I say that I will NEVER be tired of any of the above - even the viking hat?

*ahem*

It was with sadness and many hugs [and possibly a sniffle or two] that we let the girls go home, because we seriously considered an elaborate kidnapping scheme. We tried to convince them to stay FOREVER - or take us with them - but you know how those things go. Legalities and visas and family and things. No matter - it may have been the first trip, but it definitely won't be the last.

...And there you have it! The story of how I got my new accent.

[Ok, ok, so I didn't really get to keep their cool accent. But I kept the memories, and those are always worth keeping.]